WOODROW LATE SHOW FOR ALBION
DELIGHTED Nigel Clough praised the never-say-die spirit of his Burton Albion side after they snatched a dramatic late winner against Wolves.
Debutant Cauley Woodrow struck four minutes into stoppage time to seal a deserved win for the Brewers and end a fivegame home losing streak.
Relegation-threatened Albion had trailed at the break thanks to Helder Costa’s 40th-minute penalty, but they put in a spirited second-half display and drew level through former Wolves favourite Michael Kightly, before Woodrow completed a fine comeback.
Clough said: “It is about time we had a late goal go in our favour because we have suffered enough. It’s the first time something has broken for us in the last minute.
“It is nice that both new players scored. It makes a big difference bringing players in in January. We are creating chances, we just need someone to finish them off.
“It takes a lot of character to come out and turn it around like we did. When you are in a relegation battle it is hard to play without fear and relax.
“Confidence wise, I hope this will turn things around. We got a late equaliser at Wolves and we deserved it today. We kept on fighting to the end.”
The defeat left Wolves boss Paul Lambert bemoaning his side’s poor defending and a worrying lack of consistency.
“We have been on a good run recently and I suppose a performance like this was going to happen some time,” he said. “We have come down from the Liverpool win and it did not happen for us today.
“I did not think we deserved to lose it, but we did not do enough to win the match.
“The pitch was not very good and did not help our passing football, but that is not to take things away from Burton.
“We were comfortable in the first half and they did not put us under much pressure. For whatever reason, we did not get going in the second half and Burton came out much better after the restart.
“To lose in this way is very disappointing. We need to defend better than we did for their winner.”
Damien McCrory fired Tom Flanagan’s cross just over from inside the six-yard box as Burton started strongest. Nouha Dicko was denied by a smart low save by Jon McLaughlin on 34 minutes after the visitors made the most of some indecisive defending.
Lambert’s men were given a golden chance to hit the front when McLaughlin chopped down Dave Edwards in the box on 39 minutes. And Helder Costa made no mistake as he decisively fired high into the roof of the net to put Wolves in command.
Burton came out fighting after the break and came close to levelling when Kightly’s curling free-kick was tipped to safety by Carl Ikeme on 56 minutes.
And the former Wolves favourite came back to haunt Wanderers on the hour mark when he marked his Burton debut with a poacher’s goal. He was given the simplest of tasks after Marvin Sordell’s perfect ball found him unmarked six yards out.
The goal lifted the Brewers who enjoyed the best of the possession for the remaining 30 minutes. And they snatched a deserved winner through Woodrow deep into stoppage time, as the Wolves defence went